Author: Narendra Kaushik
Publication: Mumbai Mirror
Date: July 13, 2006
Salman Khurshid represents the outfit though
it was banned by his party-led UPA govt in February this year.
[Comment from Hindu Vivek Kendra: Re "We
cannot hold any person or outfit guilty in advance." The same person
holds Hindus in general and organisations like the RSS guilty for the state
of the Muslims in India.]
Though the Congress-led UPA government at
the Centre put a ban on Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in February
this year, it has not stopped one of the party's senior leaders from vigorously
opposing the ban in the Supreme Court.
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Salman Khurshid
represented the group - widely suspected along with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
for Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai - in the Supreme Court this week.
Khurshid, a senior SC lawyer, argued against
the Centre's order to put an immediate ban on the organisation.
The SIMI has, however, withdrawn the petition.
The UPA had set up a one-judge tribunal headed
by Delhi High Court judge B N Chaturvedi to adjudicate whether there was sufficient
ground to justify the ban.
The tribunal has since held hearings in Maharashtra,
Kerala, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
Almost all these states, including Maharashtra,
have alleged SIMI's links with LeT, Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) and other fundamentalist
outfits in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and West Asian countries.
In its 11-page-long affidavit filed by Anti-Terrorist
Squad (ATS) ACP Datta Sambhaji Dhawale in May this year, the Maharashtra government
said, "SIMI, along with LeT, is continuously engaged in unlawful activities
to cause damage to national sovereignty, integrity and religious harmony in
India."
When contacted for his comments on the SIMI's
alleged involvement in the Mumbai blasts, Khurshid said, "Police have
their job cut out. They, along with the judiciary, have to decide on the case."
Asked if he is comfortable representing in
court an organisation allegedly behind terror attacks, he said he finds nothing
wrong in it.
"We cannot hold any person or outfit
guilty in advance. It is up to the judiciary. We as leaders are not competent
to pronounce anyone guilty or not guilty," Khurshid told Mumbai Mirror.
